RETRIEVE-AMI Study

Heart attacks are caused by the sudden formation of a clot inside a diseased coronary artery which reduces blood flow beyond the blockage site. During conventional treatment of the blockage with what is known as a stent; a stainless steel tub that keeps the artery open, the clot that has formed is disrupted and is pushed further down leading to damage in smaller blood vessels supplying the heart muscle. This additional damage can lead to long-term heart muscle damage influencing recovery and wellbeing. The original concept that was tested to prevent this 'clot shower' was that of a suction device to withdraw the clot before stenting. However, this approach has not translated to patient benefit. Amongst the reasons put forward for the inefficacy of the suction device was that it does not remove the entire clot as it does not interact with it. A new device that physically interacts with the clot and traps it before pulling it out - the stent retriever - is now routinely used in stroke therapy to remove clots in the arteries supplying the brain. This device has been successfully used as a last resort to remove clots in a small number of heart attacks. The investigators hypothesize that stent retriever therapy will be more effective in clot removal than the current standard of care; suction or stenting. To study this, the investigators propose the RETRIEVE-AMI randomised controlled trial.